As Brazil records 5 million cases and 150,000 deaths, hard-right president Jair Bolsonaro is growing more popular than ever.
Bolsonaro dismissed COVID-19 as a "little flu" that should be faced "like a man, not a boy", according to The Guardian.
The Brazilian president has fired his former Minister of Health and contradicted medical authorities around the world, calling self-isolating "for the weak".
But Bolsonaro has been bolstered in popularity since giving out monthly emergency aid payments to 67 million Brazilians in April.
The aid payments – consisting of NZ$162 or NZ$325 for single mothers – have been widely cited as one reason for Brazil's unexpectedly fast economic recovery to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bolsonaro's government is now at a record 40 percent approval rating.
Giselly Andrade, 34, lives in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, a poor region that has traditionally been the electoral heartland of the leftwing Workers' Party, which governed Brazil from 2003-2016.
Sixty-five percent of Pernambuco residents have received emergency aid, resulting in increased support for Bolsonaro in the region.
Andrade has a 5-year-old child who was born with microcephaly, and says she will vote for Bolsonaro when he runs for re-election in 2022.
"I didn't expect this of him," Andrade told The Guardian. "People said he only thought about himself [but] he's shown the opposite.
"He's been working, thinking of the people."
While the Brazilian president is being hailed a hero, the emergency aid payments were halved last month and are due to end in September. A new study from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation shows this could potentially leave 38 million Brazilians without assistance.
Fifty-one percent of Brazilians are currently receiving the emergency aid payments or the "Bolsa Família" - a cash-handout scheme where low-income families are paid for sending their children to school and ensuring they are vaccinated.
Since Bolsonaro has not indicated that he will raise taxes for Brazil's super-wealthy, he will have to penalise ordinary Brazilians or cut spending.
Like US President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro caught the virus in July, but suffered only mild symptoms and recovered quickly.
When returning from a tour of Brazilian cities in March, Bolsonaro said it was necessary to be careful, particularly with the elderly, but "one day we will all die".
To urge Brazilians to continue working, Bolsonaro questioned the lockdown, saying "women are being beaten at home".
Brazil's currency has depleted and 13 million people are currently unemployed.
